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HP Spying More Elaborate Than Reported
theodp writes "The NY Times reports the secret investigation of news leaks at HP was more elaborate than previously reported. In addition to illicitly gathering private phone records almost from the start, detectives reportedly followed and videotaped some directors and journalists, were given photos of reporters to help identify them, and tried to plant surveillance software on a CNET reporter's computer. HP also fessed up to spying on its own spokesman, whose personal phone records were taken."
I certainly didn't vote for them in 2004.
Rock is dead. Long live scissors and paper!
So did HP take a secret contract from the Bush Administration to become a covert version of the FBI/CIA/NSA without any government oversight? News at 11!
The interesting question is, will anyone care enough about this to stop doing business with HP? Will any major corporate clients reject these practices and refuse to deal with a company that engages in them?
I'm guessing not.
There will be a few people punished in a very public fashion, while behind the scenes this sort of behavior becomes commonplace.
Maybe it's just Monday Morning talking here, but I hope I'm wrong.
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
It occurs to me that this is probably a fairly common practice among companies of a certain size, to get a better handle on the sort of press they're getting. HP's just the one unlucky enough to have gotten caught this time.
Before this "even worse news" about the extent of the spying, HP's board should have forced Dunn to resign immediately from the board. Instead, they allowed her to continue as chairwoman until January and to continue as a director after that. I predict that the board will now force her immediate resignation, but will they also strip her of her directorship? What about severance? They should take it all, retroactively. IANAL, but I'll bet that's legal, somehow.
I am from Italy. My parents were young adults during the brief time Mussolini was in power. While many Italians dislike discussing that time period, my parents were always willing to inform people of it, in the hopes that similar situations may be avoided in the future.
This is the sort of activity that became widespread during that period. Spying was omnipresent, be it on the street, at work, or while at restaurants. Collaboration between the elites of the business world the government allowed for this sort of privacy invasion to take hold, and further promoted it as time went on. Individual freedoms were thrown out "for the sake of the nation".
The very same appears to be happening in America and other "democratic" countries these days. On one hand, you have the government spying domestically on its own citizens (the whole NSA scandal, for instance). Security cameras are being installed all over the place, from street corners to ATMs. In some countries, the cameras apparently will have loudspeakers to direct the citizenry that are being observed. Now we find that the very same sort of actions are being taken by corporate executives. Soon enough that will translate down to regular workers. In short, it's a case of fascism much like Italy experienced in the mid-20th century.
Well, this new story has a hidden gem.
According to TFA: "People briefed on HP's review of its internal investigation say that it was authorized by Dunn, the chairwoman, and put under the supervision of Kevin Hunsaker, a senior counsel who is the company's director of ethics."
How could it be otherwise?
"...and we at Hewlett Packard also regret using false pretenses to obtain the personal phone reacords of their spokesman, one Mr..... the freaking HELL?!"
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Like the subject line says.
According to this newly disclosed recording:
It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/technology/18hp. html?ei=5094&en=0af37191eea65e08&hp=&ex=1158638400 &partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
/. story says "a NY Times Article" but doesn't reference or link to the article. I wonder if thats supposed to be so that karma whores like me can post a link to the actual story?
:-) And try http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/technology/18hp. html?hp&ex=1158638400&en=0af37191eea65e08&ei=5094& partner=homepage if ya wanna see the scarey pictures of the HP execs.
I'm still new enough here to hate when the
Oh, and enjoy the link to the print version of the article without ads
I believe that torture, nay, gruesome inquisition! and Guantanamo is TOO GOOD for these despicable insurgents who tried to make information from HP public. Unless we can control the release of information - by any means possible! - we cannot sustain freedom and democracy! -- What? -- "It's only HP, you stupid bugger!" --- OH. OOOPS. Hey, Dick, don't shoot that reporter in the face! It's only HP! Geeze, clearing brush is so much simpler than this job.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/csr/sbc brochure.pdf
This is a link to the SBC or the standards of business conduct. This was the bible of HP for many many years and it appears that although some question whether these rules are practiced at the lower levels, it appears that they are not at the higher levels either. If this was actions of any HP employee, they would be TERMINATED. This is several magnitudes more extreme of a situation.
The idea is not to operate within just the language and the loopholes, but to abide by the intent of the document which is to set the stage for proper conduct with a low threshold in cases where there is any question of being appropriate.
This saddens many HP employees who have worked hard to reinforce a positive image of the company which did operate on a much more noble level in the past.
Nah... her behavior is obnoxious, and probably illegal, but her body count so far is zero. Between Stalin and Hitler you can pretty conservatively come up with 60,000,000 dead. She is a piker compared to them.